mobility enables true unified communications

Mobility Enables TrueUnified Communications

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Mobility Enables True Unified Communications White Paper

2NEC Corporation © 2009

While mobility was once a growing telecommunications trend, it is

now the norm. According to the International Telecommunication

Union’s 2008 ICT Development Index (IDI), over 60 percent of the

world’s population has easy access to mobile telephony. Nearly

70 percent of all workers in the United States are issued mobile

phones by their employers.1

Often, workers are allowed to choose the wireless device that

they will use for business purposes. Since there is little platform

and operating system standardization between mobile devices

and corporate networks, IT departments are forced to issue what

is often a third phone number for many workers.

Furthermore, corporate end users and IT professionals are

frustrated with the usability of current enterprise application deliv-

ery solutions for mobile handsets. In fact, when it comes to

mobile access to enterprise applications, the IDI study shows that

76 percent of IT respondents believe that inadequate virtualization

interfaces of mobile enterprise application delivery solutions is a

barrier to adoption, and 15 percent of corporate end users said

virtualization interfaces provided by the carrier or handset manu-

facturer are difficult or impossible to use.

With all these factors, deploying unified communications (UC) in conjunction with a mobility solution can increase

employee productivity and improve customer service by enabling workers and groups to more easily collaborate from

disparate locations. As a benefit, UC applications that enhance mobility can provide a significant return on investment

(ROI) through improved workforce productivity.

Executive Summary

Implementing a wireless system can be daunting. The sheer number of available wireless options available to businesses

is both astounding and intimidating. Cellular, voice over IP, voice over WLAN, DECT, and digital devices – as well as

smartphones and computer-based softphones are on the list of choices. Add to the intimidation the fact that each of

these options has a different type of architecture with differing operating systems and standards – even among them-

selves. These differences can create network conflicts that result in constant issues with network reliability. Implement-

ing a stable wireless communications policy can become nearly impossible for an organization’s IT department.

Challenges of a Mobile Environment

Network Conflicts

The number of workers using their personal phones for business purposes – and vice versa – has grown exponentially. It

has become so commonplace that the IRS has recently started threatening to tax employer-issued mobile phones as a

fringe benefit.2

Use of both Personal or Corporate Devices


3NEC Corporation © 2009

Simply stated, UC is the integration of real-time communication services such as instant messaging, presence, tele-

phony, multimedia conferencing, and call control with other services such as voicemail, e-mail and SMS. UC should

offer a consistent user interface and experience across all devices and media types.4

Most businesses see unified communications as a way to improve internal and external communications while increas-

ing employee productivity. It also has potential to dramatically improve business activities that involve direct interaction

with customers.

Understanding Unified Communication and its Pitfalls

If employees opt to separate their work and personal communications, other issues result. According to a survey

conducted by Citrix Systems in 20063, two out of five mobile employees carry multiple devices. More than a third of work-

ers carry between two and four devices, while the top six percent of the mobile worker population lugged five, six or

even seven devices. Overall, almost a quarter of all mobile workers carry three or more devices with them at a time.

These implementation difficulties and multiple devices not only create problems for the organization trying to implement

wireless communication; it may also result in poor customer service. Employees often have more than one phone

number at which they can be reached.

When clients wish to place orders or request service, they can become quickly dissatisfied if they must call several num-

bers or wait on hold for an excessive period simply to reach a sales or customer service representative.

Multiple Numbers for Each Worker

Unfortunately, several studies have shown that companies implementing UC tend to spend more time and money with

the actual installation and resultant troubleshooting rather than planning for the service.

Businesses tend to underestimate the amount of time they should devote toward planning. Companies often are under

pressure from executives to implement UC so they don’t fall behind the curve. As a result, enterprises are spending

around $557 per employee to implement functional collaboration applications.5

Implementation Time and Cost

According to a study conducted by Nemertes Research, integration concerns are the leading barrier to UC adoption for

58 percent of organizations.6 Many companies operate a multi-vendor communications environment with disparate

legacy systems, PBXs, and platforms across their locations. Indeed, a lack of complete integration of legacy infrastruc-

ture and new applications has the potential to create issues in both the implementation and use of UC.

To save time, effort and money, organizations are advised to spend time assessing the market, researching the players

and planning for implementation and use.

Integration Concerns


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The Role of Mobility in Successful Unified Communications

The movement toward achieving unified communications in almost all business areas has been swift. However, UC has

been called “a shadow of what it can be” without a strong mobile element. Some analysts go so far as to say that it is

illogical to think of UC and mobility as separate entities.7

Because it enables people to work – and even collaborate – from disparate locations, Mobility paired with UC enhances

customer and employee satisfaction. It even helps to streamline business processes. It makes people more accessible

and can cut costs by around 30 percent. Call completion rates can improve as much as 50 percent.

To that end, several vendors have released a number of mobile UC products. For example, NEC introduced several UC

mobility options for its SV8000 Series of communications servers.

The mobility market has experienced explosive growth. More people are working from home than ever, and many

employees need to keep in touch during business travel. UC mobility enables workers to:

• Use any company telephone as their own extension anywhere on campus or in any branch office – even one that is thousands of miles away from the primary office

• Open a softphone or use USB-linked headset to connect via a laptop with a connection to the internet

• Utilize a cellular telephone to access all of the functionality available on their UC desktop application

• Access the corporate database, presence and other services on a dual-mode device: one that operates on both corpo-rate and cellular networks

• Save travel time and employer costs by using live video streams for virtual meetings

According to findings in a recent study by Forrester Research, the

communication bottlenecks that occur in virtually all industries can

be alleviated—and productivity improved—when mobile UC

services are implemented.10

Providing employees the ability to work outside the office can drive greater operational efficiencies and higher employee

satisfaction.

A recent survey by AT&T revealed that 41 percent of responding workers felt that they were very likely to conduct busi-

ness while away from the office. Over half of that group believe that the success of their business is dependent upon

their ability to be in touch to customers and coworker from anywhere at any time. Additionally, a majority said that they

find themselves working extra hours due to the freedom and

increased productivity that mobile work provides.8

In another survey conducted by Kelton Research, 75 percent of

mobile workers reported that the biggest benefit of working

remotely is a flexible work schedule – and 90 percent reported a

better work-life balance and more positive attitude toward their

jobs as a result.9

Mobilization of the Workforce

Increased Employee Efficiency and Satisfaction

Bottleneck Elimination

NEC Corporation © 2009


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The Role of Mobility in Successful Unified Communications

When retail stores run popular promotions, it is crucial that store managers, marketing departments and supply-chain

partners coordinate their activities to replenish stock as needed and ensure that the stock supports advertised. While

promotions are ongoing, employees operate in a mobile mode in order to avoid the information and decision latency that

could result in outages and lost sales. When Forrester Research asked retail store managers whether being able to

locate key decision makers on any device using a single address would save time, 75 percent answered affirmatively. Of

that group, 52 percent thought one-number reach would save 5 to 15 minutes per call.11

1 OK Labs “Employees Expect Mobile Access to Enterprise Applications”, 2008.

2 Dignan, Larry. ZDNet. “IRS Eyes Taxing your Work Mobile Phone,” June 12, 2009.

3 “Citrix Lightens the Load for Mobile Workers,” September 26, 2006.

4 Pleasant, Blair. SearchUnifiedCommunications.com. “What UC Is and Isn’t,” July 28, 2008.

5 Lazar, Irwin. Network World, “The ROI of Unified Communications,” May 16, 2007.

6 Trost, Kathleen. “Nemertes Benchmark: Unified Communications and Collaboration VOIP and UC Organizational Strategies,” 2009.

7 Weinschenk, Carl. ITBusinessEdge.com “Unified Communications Puts On its Traveling Shoes,” March 18, 2008.

8 AT&T Knowledge Ventures. “The Flexible Connectivity of Wireless,” 2009.

9 Ibid.

10 Daley, Ellen, Forrester Consulting, 2006

11 Forrester Consulting. Unified Communications Industry Study, February 2006.

Sources

Examples of Achieving the Highest ROI in Different Lines of Business

Network Conflicts

Hospitals need communication systems that more rapidly put nurses in touch with nursing supervisors and physicians in

order to offset nursing shortages. In addition, when UC in hospitals includes RFID-based location services, nurses in

need of medical instruments can find the location of the needed unit quickly and easily. Forrester Research found that 74

percent of healthcare respondents believed portable wireless devices would save the nursing staff at least thirty minutes

per day per person for nursing staff. In some hospitals today, wearable push-to-talk devices are enabling nurses and

doctors to communicate more efficiently, thus contributing to higher quality health care in spite of nursing shortages.

Healthcare

In the competitive financial services industry, rapid response to mortgage, secured loan and credit card applications is a

business requirement. UC addresses communication lapses that cause delays in loan decisions. According to Gartner’s

findings, “Loan representatives indicate that UC would allow them to speed decisions and increase the number of loan

applications,” which would enable financial institutions to be more responsive to customers.

The Financial Sector

Government officials and civil servants often work in a mobile mode, particularly when playing an executive role, while

inspecting or regulating infrastructure and while enforcing laws and protecting citizens.

If a disaster occurs, government leaders and representatives must be able to move quickly. They must be able to survey

conditions on the ground while in communication with a centralized command center. If they have UC services on board

their mobile devices, they can efficiently and safely serve and protect affected citizens.

Emergency Response and Government Services



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Cat.No. G01-09090009E

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About NEC Corporation


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mobility enables true unified communications

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